12 students injured after school bus overturns

As many as 30 students, all aged between eight and 16, were present in the school bus which left from North-east Delhi’s Shahdara area and was heading towards Rajpur Road in North Delhi’s Civil Lines. The school bus in this case is a rural transport vehicle hired jointly by two schools – Rukmani Devi School and Victoria Girls Senior Secondary School, said a police official.

According to the police, the incident was reported around 7.45 am when the speeding bus was coming down the ISBT flyover. The driver lost control over the vehicle when he suddenly confronted some pedestrians trying to cross the road. The vehicle rammed into the divider and overturned.

The driver, identified as Anjan Dutta (45), was later booked for rash driving based on the complaint of one of the students in the bus. He too is recovering from injuries at the trauma centre, said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North).

The girls were given first aid and kept under observation till evening. Meanwhile, the police are looking into the papers of the vehicle, its fitness certificate and other documents necessary for a bus providing service to schools.

Delhi health minister Satyendra Jain visited the hospital after the incident and directed Trauma Centre authorities to conduct a thorough check-up of all the children.

Later in the day, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia expressed his concern and said that school children in Delhi are in a “Danger Zone” as far as their security during conveyance from and to schools are concerned. He held a meeting with school authorities, parent associations and RTV unions to discuss the issue, especially overloading and rash driving. He also mentioned that the government shall soon enact laws in this regard.